Loving difficult people
Number 11:11-15 Moses said to the Lord….Why pick on me, to give me the burden of a people like this? Are they my children? Am I their father? Is that why you have given me the job of nursing them along like babies until we get to the land you promised their ancestors? Where am I suppose to get meat for all these people? For they weep to me saying “give us meat”. I can’t carry this nation by myself. The load is far too heavy! If you are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now; it will be a kindness! Let me out of this impossible situation.
I love this scripture because I can really picture in my head Moses pacing back and forth in front of God, throwing his hands up in anger. He was done dealing with the complaining of all the people God had put him in charge to lead. I cannot even begin to count how many times God has placed people in my life that have been very difficult for me to love, for me to show Jesus to. Throughout this chapter I want to take you through the process of how God can teach us how to love difficult people.
Romans 13:9 Don’t just pretend to love others, really love them. When you give someone a hug and tell them that you love them it has to be authentic. Don’t walk away from that person with any kind of hatred in your heart.
Romans 13:16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. Don’t let personality, preferences, self-absorption or even experiences keep us from being united to the body of Christ.
Romans 15:1 We must not just please ourselves. We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. Resentment can control you and we are called as Gods people to build each other up, no matter what. God does not place difficult people in our lives for us to become frustrated and to give up on them. He places them in our lives to teach us how to deal with them in a loving way and to help lead them on a path to God.
God tells us in Job 18:4 “you are only hurting yourself with your anger.” Don’t get angry with God or other people. Stop and look at the situation and ask God to teach you how to turn any frustration into love.
I pray that today and everyday your heart and eyes will be set upon loving and pleasing God more than people. As when we are in an active relationship with our Savior, focusing on him alone, all the stress and fear in our lives fad into the back ground as we then allow him to take care of all the details, even those crazy people who want to hate on us and who Satan wants to use to make our lives miserable. Little does Satan know we are focused on God, not on our circumstances and therefor his tactics are rendered useless.
Colossians 3:23 talks about pleasing God not men. God put this on my heart to focus on pleasing him and not allowing the opinion of others to overtake my life. Truth that it is in him alone we live for. To let all our fear and anxiety over what others think to be true about us to be destroyed, by fixing our eyes on him and allowing him to give us peace. God has heard your heart cry and knew you needed to be reminded of his love for you. I will pray for your relationships, that you will be able to seek him and his wisdom out in each one and then allow him to carry whatever burdens you have been trying to carry on your own.